


Project Obsidian's Variantology Challenge

by Justanangryfangirl



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Honestly I have no clue where this is gonna go, Hurt Varian (Disney), Project Obsidian Challenge, Tags May Change, Varian Needs a Hug (Disney), Varian gets a Hug, Variantology Challenge, What's a consistent update schedule?, Whump, not beta read we die like men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-09
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:33:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 12,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23556115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Justanangryfangirl/pseuds/Justanangryfangirl
Summary: I decided to take a whack at my first challenge with Project Obsidian's Variantology Challenge. This'll be my first multichapter fic so here we go!
Relationships: Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider & Varian, Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider/Rapunzel, Quirin & Varian (Disney), Rapunzel & Varian (Disney)
Comments: 60
Kudos: 125





	1. Father and Son

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the first challenge was Father and Son and I think I missed the prompt a bit but I had fun with this! I might be a bit obsessed with the Varian and the Seven Kingdoms AU...
> 
> I may be a bit late with this...

Quirin was new to parenting. But that didn’t mean he was bad at it. So when Ulla had needed to leave to pursue her alchemy, Quirin had encouraged her. After all, she wouldn’t be gone forever. Donella said that they shouldn’t be gone longer than a month. So Quirin was confident he could handle this. 

He couldn’t handle this. He sat at the kitchen table with his head in his hands. He ran his hands down his face, feeling the stubble that had grown. He knew if he looked in a mirror he’d see tired eyes staring back at him.

The reason for his exhaustion was laying in a bassinet, sleeping restlessly. Ulla had been gone for two weeks, and Varian missed his mother. He’d been fussing and refusing to sleep. And when he finally did drift off, he never slept for long. Which meant Quirin never slept for long. He felt his eyes growing heavier and almost nodded off at the table. But before he could, the silence was broken by light crying from the bassinet. His son was awake. 

He sat at the table, hoping he would settle back down. But the cries got louder, and he realized neither of them would be getting any sleep for the foreseeable future.  
He walked over to the bassinet and picked up the squirming baby. Varian looked up at him with bright blue eyes. He was the spitting image of his mother. He seemed to calm down for a moment, and Quirin began to hope that tonight would be easy, unlike the last fourteen. 

That hope was dashed when Varian scrunched up his face and began squalling. Again. 

“You know”, Quirin said while grabbing a bottle and walking over to the old rocking chair by the fire, “You’re never this fussy with your mom. If she were here you’d be fast asleep. She’d sing some song and you’d doze straight off. But your moms not here right now… It’s just me and you.”

Quirin looked down to see Varian had calmed down a little. He’d stopped crying and was staring at him, eyes now clear. 

He had his mother's eyes. Not only were they the same shade of blue as hers, but they had that same inquisitive spark as hers. Quirin saw that spark whenever Varian figured something new out about the world. Before Ulla had left, she would work in her lab with Varian in a high chair close enough to see but far out of the blast range. Quirin was convinced that he was trying to learn alchemy at five months. Ulla said that he was simply mimicking her as she talked her way through experiments.

He had the same curious streak as his mother. And right now his favorite thing to investigate was how many times Quirin would return his dropped toy to him. 

The record was twenty five.

Quirin was interrupted from his thoughts by Varian starting to fuss again. He sighed and gathered him closer to his chest.

“Come on Mr. Grumpy. What’s wrong?”

As Varian was a baby, he did not answer, and only continued to cry.

“Why won’t you sleep. I know you miss your momma, but she had to do this. She had to go, and she’ll be back soon,” Quirin said, not realizing he was getting choked up. 

“I miss her too, bud. But we can get through this. Me and you.”

Quirin took a deep breath, held Varian closer, and began to sing.

His voice was rough and nothing special, but it did the job. Varian fell asleep just as the sun began to rise. 

And if the citizens of Old Corona heard an old folk song about the moon fade into snores, they didn’t mention it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the song Quirin sings at the end is Moon River. You can pry my "Varian has connections with the moon" headcanon out of my cold dead hands


	2. Alchemy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So this one is alchemy. Once again, I got a bit off topic but here ya go. Posting speed will slow and chapter's will probably get longer once I catch up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In a frantic attempt to catch up, I'm just rambling at 2 am. So I apologize if this doesn't make a lick of sense.

Varian loved alchemy. He really did. But it was times like this that made him want to bundle up all his supplies, throw them out, and take up a different hobby. Like knitting. 

He started at an erlenmeyer flask sitting on his workbench that was supposed to be bubbling. It was currently smoking. 

“Well Varian.” he said to himself, staring at the green liquid. “What did you do wrong here?”

He walked over to his notebook and began trying to sort out his process. He squinted as he stared at the messy scrawl that covered the page. He had gotten so wrapped up in the experiment that he had forgotten to actually make legible notes. 

“Alright. So I either wrote ‘heat to a temperature of 150 degrees’ or ‘heart of a tempura is 150 daiquiris’ and since tempura daiquiris sound awful, I should probably check the temperature on the solution,”. Varian said while rummaging through his supplies. He found an old glass thermometer and discovered that the solution was too cold. 

“Well that’s an easy fix,” he thought. “All I have to do is warm it up a bit.”

He quickly set up a bunsen burner and mounted the thermometer above it. He found a match and lit the burner before running off to find the solution. 

He grabbed the flask, then had a brilliant idea. If he rewrote the steps now, they'd be more accurate as they were fresh in his mind. After the bath bomb incident he’d decided he needed to be better about labeling things and chronicling experiments. 

He slid a chair over to his desk and began writing down the steps, making sure to carefully note how the mixture looked and reacted with other elements. 

Varian, as brilliant as he was, had a bit of a one track mind. So while he focused completely on his notes, the thermometer rose in the background. 

And eventually, if a thermometer can’t rise any more, it will explode. 

Varian was almost done revising his notes, when he was interrupted by a loud pop. He jumped and yelped, looking around his lab to see what had gone wrong. 

His first thought was that the chemicals he had been working with had exploded, but they had calmed down considerably and showed no sign of any reaction. 

He inspected the workbench and, seeing nothing, decided that was enough alchemy for the day. 

“You,” he said to himself, “need a nap. You’re starting to hear things and if I pass out in another meeting both Rapunzel and my dad are gonna lock me out of my lab. Or make me listen to the lab safety speech.”

Varian moved to start cleaning up, first blowing out the burner then throwing his gloves and apron in the wash bin. He pushed his goggles up on his head and turned to the mixture on his desk.

“Shame I can’t continue this,” he said while disposing of the chemicals “I would’ve loved to see if the problem was… the… temperature…”

He turned back to his workbench and stared closely at the thermometer. And sure enough, instead of a rounded top, he saw jagged spikes staring back at him. 

“Varian. You idiot,” he said to himself. “You work with dangerous chemicals on the daily and are totally fine, but you forget that heated liquids expand and leave a thermometer over an open flame. Truly you are a genius.”

He started cleaning up the shattered bits of glass. Luckily, he had found a substitute to mercury in thermometers so he didn’t have to worry about being poisoned.

However, he did have to worry about his haemophobia.

Varian ran his hand over an area he thought was clean, but he suddenly pulled his palm back with a sharp hiss of pain.

He looked down at his hand to see a thin streak of red with a small shard of glass sticking out of it.

Instinctively, he reached down and pulled the shard out of his palm, wincing once again.

“That wasn’t too bad,” he said to himself. “At least it didn’t…”

Varian glanced down at his palm to see that it was slowly dripping blood.

“Oh no... “

Varian didn’t have the time to finish his thought before he was out. 

He woke up outside his lab to see Rapunzel and Eugene standing over him.

“You know kid,” Eugene said with a hint of a smile, “After all the things you’ve done, Corona’s royal alchemist meets his end at the hands of a thermometer and a paper cut.”

“Ha ha.” Varian said while slowly sitting up. “At least my arch nemesis for most of my adult life wasn’t a horse.”

“He’s a very driven horse!”

“Boys.” Rapunzel interjected. “As interesting as your banter is, Varian, wasn’t that the fifth explosion of the week?”

“Ah,” Varian said, fishing a small punch card out of his pocket. “It was… So I’m guessing I have to listen to the lab safety presentation again?”

“You would be correct.” Rapunzel said, bearing the same almost smile Eugene had.

“Ughhhhhh,” Varian sighed, over-dramatically, draping his hand over his forehead. “If I can already quote the presentation do I have to sit through it.”

“Yep!” Eugene said gleefully, “And please refrain from mocking the speaker. No one else is willing to deliver the same speech every three weeks”

“They think gold is the best metal Fitzherbert. Gold,” Varian said while rolling his eyes. 

“Alright, thermometer boy. You’re truly a genius.”

That settled it. Varian was taking up knitting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is actually based on what happened on my first day of chemistry. Me and my lab group blew up a thermometer, and both me and one of my other partners ended up cutting our hands. Our teacher never let us live it down.


	3. Childhood

Varian had always thought it would be fun to have a nemesis. In all the stories he read, the brave hero would square off against his arch nemesis and save the day. And Varian was a hero, just like Flynn Rider. From our bedtime stories

Or at least that was the explanation he gave Quirin as to why he was running around the garden with a colander on his head and a wooden spoon in hand. 

“Alright then,” Quirin said, chuckling to himself. “Who’s your nemesis?”

Varian, an extremely wordy five year old, launched into an explanation about how he was defending the garden from anything that would try and hurt it, especially the raccoon that steals the tomatoes, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. 

“I see! That makes so much sense,” Quirin said, now fully smiling. 

He settled down on the front porch to watch Varian plop down on a pumpkin and watch for his “nemesis”. 

At some point, Quirin dozed off. Varian however, remained ever vigilant. He scanned the garden from his pumpkin perch, when he suddenly heard a quiet rustling from the vegetable patch. He, very quietly for a small child, slid off the pumpkin and started sneaking over to the tomatoes.

He gasped, realizing he was about to come face to face with his nemesis. He steeled himself to do glorious battle with his fluffy foe. He tiptoed over and spread the leaves of the plant to see a tiny ball of fluff curled up and shaking at the bottom of the plant.

This simply wouldn’t do. This wasn’t a nemesis. This was a baby. And it looked scared.

Varian plopped to the ground and stuck his face into the plant.

“Hello. What’s your name? I’m Varian, and I’m this many,” he asked, quickly sticking up five fingers.

The raccoon chattered slightly and uncurled, Varain smiled and, encouraged by it’s behavior, continued talking. 

“That’s my da over there. He’s taking a nap right now. He says I need to take naps but I don’t think I do. Do you have a da?”

The raccoon sadly looked up at him.

“Oh. I’m sorry.” he said. “But I’m kinda like you. I don’t have a ma. Da told me that she went off to do something when I was really small like you. But she never came back.”

Varian’s stomach rumbled and he said, “I’m kinda hungry. Do you want something to eat?”

The raccoon chittered in confirmation and wandered out of the tomato plant, allowing Varian to scoop him up. 

He toddled to the kitchen, new friend in his arms.

“Da says I’m not supposed to make myself food, but he’s super tired and also he might not let you stay. You need a name buddy.”

Varian pulled a small loaf of raisin bread off the counter and tore it in half, giving half to the raccoon and keeping the rest for himself. 

“Alright,” he said, mouth full of bread. “Do you like Flynn? Like from me and Da’s bedtime story?”

The raccoon shook his head no.

“Okay. How about just Raccoon?”

No.

“Bunsen?”

No.

“Ruddiger?”

The raccoon chittered in an approving manner.

“Ruddiger it is then. How was your snack?”

Ruddiger didn’t answer, as he was too busy yawning.

“Are you tired? I’m not… tired at all,” Varian said, just before yawning.

“Well maybe I’m a little sleepy.”

Varian opened his arms allowing Ruddiger to crawl into them. He carried him over to his bed and moved a pillow down he could lay on. 

Quirin woke up from his nap and glanced across the garden. When he didn’t see Varian, he felt a quick panic before glancing back and seeing that the door was ajar. 

He walked into the house to see the remnants of Varian’s raisin bread on the table and to hear a soft snore coming from Varian’s room. He walked into the room to see his son fast asleep, with a raccoon on the pillow beside him.

“Varian…” he muttered. “What did you do this time?”  
He reached over to remove the racoon, but that slight movement woke Varian up. 

“Hey da,” he yawned. He looked over and saw Quirin with a squirming Ruddiger.

“What are you doing!” Varian yelled. 

“I’m putting this raccoon outside. You can’t just bring wild animals inside. It’s dangerous.” Quirin answered.

“He’s not dangerous!” Varian said, climbing out of bed and stomping his foot. “He’s my friend!”

“He’s a wild animal. He belongs outside.” Quirin said, trying to pacify his son. 

“But he’s like me!” Varian yelled, tears welling up in his eyes. “Neither of us have a mom!”

Quirin’s resolve instantly broke. He sat Ruddiger back on the bed and swept Varian into his arms, hugging him tight, both to comfort him and to hide the fact that he himself was crying.

“He can stay Varian. He can stay.” Quirin said once he trusted his voice not to break. 

“Thank you da.”

“I love you Varian,” Quirin said, holding his now smiling son in front of him.

“I love you too da. And by the way, Ruddiger’s not my nemesis anymore.”


	4. Lanterns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally putting that angst tag to use.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *frantically googles how lanterns work*  
> On brand for me, it's guilt time.

Releasing lanterns to celebrate the birth of a new royal was a longstanding tradition in Corona. It had been going on for years, most notably when Rapunzel had disappeared. And even though she returned, the tradition of a lantern festival carried on.

Varian had always loved watching the lanterns with his father. On clear nights, you could see them even from Old Corona. And sure, those nights were fun, but nothing beat watching the festival in the town square. 

He still remembered sitting on his dad’s shoulders so he could see over the crowd, constantly asking questions. 

***

“What makes the lanterns float? Chris from next door says it’s magic, but everyone knows there's no such thing as magic,” he asked, flopped over his dad’s head, arms dangling in his face.

“Well,” Quirin said, readjusting Varian so they both could see, “the candle heats the air inside the paper container causing it to rise until the candle goes out.”

“So like the hot air balloon from mom’s notes?”

“Exactly!”

“Why do they send off lanterns every year?”

“Well.” Quirin said somberly, “Nine years ago, the Princess of Corona went missing. The king and queen kept releasing lanterns to try and guide her home.”

Varian was quiet for a moment, appearing to be in deep thought. After a moment, he spoke again.

“Do you think the king and queen miss the princess as much as me and you miss mom?”

“I think they do.”

“Maybe mom found the princess, since they both got lost. Maybe she’s taking care of her until they can come home.”

“Maybe.” Quirin said, quickly running his hand across his eyes. 

Maybe he didn’t believe Donella when she said that Ulla was gone, or maybe he didn’t have the heart to tell his son, but as far as Varian was concerned, his mom was simply lost.

“Da. Do you think the king and queen would mind if our lantern was for the princess and ma?”

“No Varian,” Quirin said, pulling the small paper lantern out of their bag. “I don’t think they’d mind at all.”

***

He’d lost track of time, but he knew exactly what day today was. He stared out into the distance, squinting through the bars on the window, to see lanterns rising. 

This time, not for the lost princess, but for the found princess who bravely journeyed off to find the source of the rocks and save her kingdom.

For the princess who he thought was his friend, who he thought would help him.

For the princess who he betrayed and used because she betrayed him first and left him alone and left his dad alone and who-

No.

For the princess who he betrayed because he couldn’t admit it was his fault. 

Still, even though he knew the king and queen would mind, he found a lantern in the crowd to be for the lost princess and his mom. And now his dad. 

“I’m sorry.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maybe one day I'll stop writing about Varian and his parents, but today is not that day. Also, the cell he was kept in had a small window because I said so.


	5. Sundrop

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Varian finally gets to find out the results of his tests on Rapunzel's hair

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey we're finally caught up! So I kinda lost the prompt but dang it I just wanted to write something sweet.

“So… Rapunzel. I never did get to finish running those experiments on the al-chemical makeup of your hair.”

Varian was standing in the Demanitus chamber finishing setting up his lab. Rapunzel had offered to help him move, and he’d accepted. He hadn’t been looking forward to dragging all those boxes in himself. 

“You didn’t. We kinda got distracted by you nearly blowing up Old Corona.” Rapunzel said, slightly smiling.

“Hey!” Varian said, feigning insult. “I’ll have you know my explosion rate has gone down fifteen percent.”

“Thermometer.”

“Does that really count?”

“Yes.”

Varian made a face at Rapunzel, who made one back.

“But seriously.” Varian said. “It would benefit us to find out how your hair worked.”  
“I know how my hair works, Varian. It’s mag-”

“Eh eh eh! Don’t restart the magic debate.” Varian said, cutting her off. 

“Oh I’m restarting the magic debate. As I recall, I won last time.” Rapunzel said tauntingly. 

“Oh no! You only “won” because I didn’t have any conclusive evidence.” Varian snapped back, his goofy smile removing any bite from his words.

“Because it blew up.” Rapunzel said, the same smile plastered on her face. 

“Well if you’d let me run a feeew more tests I could get your evidence for you.”

Rapunzel rolled her eyes and smiled. “Fine. But only if you promise to help me bake cookies and also paint with me. And don’t say you can’t bake cookies. We all know you can.”

“Okay but the sleeping draught altered the recipe.”

“Deal??” Rapunzel said smiling.

“Okay deal! Let me go find the materials I need.” Varian nearly yelled, almost vibrating with excitement. 

“You know Rapunzel I’ve been waiting, like, forever to finish this experiment. Well technically only, like 2.5 but anywho.”

“How many tests do you need to run this time?” Rapunzel asked, clearly remembering the last time Varian had tried to figure her hair out.

He pulled his goggles down over his face and cackled. “Anywhere from two to twenty.”

“We’re gonna have to make so many batches of cookies.” Rapunzel sighed. 

Fifteen tests later, Varian was done. “Alright,” he said pushing his goggles back up, a slight ring of smudge from a (small) explosion. “I hope you’re ready to discover that I was right.”

“Sure… Check your results Varian,” Rapunzel smirked, unwinding her hair from the machine.

Varian rushed over to the machine, grabbed the paper, and saw, in big bold letters at the top, “Results Inconclusive”.

“What’s it say Varian,” Rapunzel almost sang.

“Results Inconclusive” he muttered.

“So that means???”

“As of right now,” Varian muttered while attempting a cutting glare, “I can’t scientifically explain your hair.”

Rapunzel walked over, put her hand on Varian’s shoulder and said, “Well wizard boy? Ready to trade your alchemy apron for a baker's one?”

“Sure.” Varian said, pretending to sulk, while already plotting what type of cookies to make. 

***

Rapunzel slid the door open to the pantry after convincing the cooks to give them free run of the place.

“You know,” she said while rooting through the supplies, “baking is kinda like alchemy. You combine ingredients and expect a reaction. However, it’s kinda hard to blow up a pan of cookies.”

“Trust me Rapunzel. If anyone could manage blowing up a pan of cookies, it would be me.” Varian said, spreading the collected ingredients on the table.

They mixed the ingredients and took a step back to admire their work.

“That wasn’t too hard,” Varian said while wiping off the flour he had somehow gotten on his forehead.

“That was the easy part. The hard part comes in if Eugene figures out what we’re doing.” Rapunzel said, looking to the door, wooden spoon in hand. 

“Why?”

“He’s a fiend.” Rapunzel said seriously. “Every time I try to bake something, he comes in and eats half the dough before I can get anything into the oven. But not this time. Because this time I have a secret weapon.”

“And what would that be?” Varian asked.

“I have Corona’s most brilliant, cleverest, most inventive alchemist helping me!” Rapunzel said, beaming at Varian. 

“Laying it on a bit thick, aren’t we?” Varian said, smiling. “So do I need to stick him to the   
floor or?”

“Nope! All I need you to do is hold this and bap him if he goes for the cookie dough,” Rapunzel said while passing Varian a spoon. 

So he hid under the counter, and Rapunzel went to grab a baking tray. 

And sure enough, Eugene snuck in, crept over to the bowl, when suddenly,

“Alright! Who gave the gremlin a weapon!” Eugene yelled.

Rapunzel ran in to see Eugene holding his hand and glaring at a cackling Varian. 

“Maybe next time,” she said, just starting to giggle, “you’ll at least check for traps. I thought you were a professional.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rapunzel and Varian have a sibling-like relationship and no one can convince me otherwise. Also that joke in the finale about Varian not being the biggest threat to Corona anymore gave me life. Just let me have this kids goofing off please.


	6. Ruddiger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ruddiger gets locked out of the kitchen and is not too happy about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I never thought I'd write from the perspective of a raccoon, but there's a first time for everything I guess.

If you asked Ruddiger, he was thrilled Varian wasn’t a villain anymore. Now that the kid was more mentally stable, he no longer had to be the voice of reason. 

Meaning, he thought, rubbing his paws together, seeming to smile evilly, that there was nothing wrong with getting into a little mischief.

And right now, his chosen crime was getting into the kitchen.

The castle's kitchen. 

He had seen Varian and Rapunzel go into it, along with a bag of raisins. But when he had tried to take some, Varian hadn’t let him! The nerve of some people.

To even greater offense, when he had tried to follow the two, he wasn’t allowed entry! Pascal got to go in, but he didn’t! This was unacceptable. 

Now, Ruddiger wasn’t a dumb racoon. He knew he couldn’t break into the kitchen through brute force. What he needed was a plan. And maybe some opposable thumbs. 

He sat in front of the door plotting when the final piece to his plan rounded the corner the form of Eugene Fitzherbert. Ruddiger didn’t know much about him besides that Varian liked him, so he was trustworthy, he had thumbs, and he was always ready for a bit of mischief, especially if snacks were involved. 

Ruddiger ran up to him and started chattering while gesturing to the door.

“Hey, Hairstripes angry cat, what’s wrong with you?” Eugene said.

Ruddiger, as clever as he was, couldn’t talk. So he had to resort to charades. How demeaning. 

“Okay. Three words. First word is grabby hands?” Eugene asked.

Ruddiger stopped miming and drug his hands down his face before shaking his head.

“Well pardon me, but you’re not the best at-. Am I really arguing over charades with a racoon? First a frog, then you, then my dad's pigeon. Am I living in a zoo?” Eugene said to no one in particular.

Ruddiger did not have time for this nonsense. He needed those raisins. He trotted up to Eugene and tapped him on the knee.

“Alright alright. I’ll focus.” Eugene said, waiting for Ruddiger to start again. “Okay. Third word. Doors? In? Kitchen?”

Ruddiger shook his head yes , chattering happily.

“Okay! We’re making progress! Second word. Walk? Walk through doors? Out? In?”

Another yes. Ruddiger was so close he could almost taste it. 

“In kitchen. Are you telling me you need to go in the kitchen?”

He got it! Ruddiger nodded his head, and began walking towards the kitchen. 

He got halfway there to turn and see that his help wasn’t following. He turned his head as if to ask “What gives?”

“Sorry bud. But after the cookie kerfuffle I’ve decided to leave those two alone when they’re baking. Sure my hand was fine, but getting surprise attacked by an angry child isn’t too great for the Captain of the Guard’s reputation.”

Unbelievable! Ruddiger had spent all that time trying to convey his point, and now Eugene wouldn’t even help him!

“Wow. I’ve never been on the receiving end of a death glare from a raccoon. Although any glare from Varian when he’s got explosion marks on his face kinda has the same effect.” Eugene said, starting to walk away. 

Before he left, he called over his shoulder, “But if you simply must break in, there's a large tree outside one of the windows that leads straight to the kitchen.”

Maybe Fitzherbert wasn’t useless! Ruddiger ran outside and saw the exact tree he mentioned. He scurried up, annoyed he hadn’t thought of this earlier.

He got to the window just in time to see Rapunzel and Varian slide a pan into the oven. He was too late. 

Before he could slink back down the tree, he heard Varian say, “Thanks a lot for the help Rapunzel! He’s gonna be so excited!”

“No problem Varian. You know, this was really sweet of you.” Rapunzel said back.

“Really. It’s the least I can do. He stuck with me when, well through everything. He’s really my oldest friend. That must sound a little weird.”

“Not at all.” Rapunzel said, placing Pascal on her shoulder. 

Ruddiger, having heard enough, scurried back down the tree and went to nap by the doors. Maybe he overreacted. Just a bit. But the charades was still demeaning.

***

Ruddiger woke up to see Varian sitting on the floor beside him. “Have a nice nap?” Varian asked. “Sorry to leave you outside, but I didn’t want to ruin the surprise. Now, I may not know your actual birthday, but todays the day we met, so close enough.”

He then pulled a still warm loaf of raisin bread out of his bag and handed it to Ruddiger, who promptly broke it in two and handed half back.

“Happy Birthday, and thanks for sticking with me.”

If getting locked out of the kitchen meant more moments like this, then Ruddiger was fine with it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *frantically googles if raccoons have opposable thumbs*
> 
> I'm incredibly cheesy, and no one can stop me. Also, I thought Ruddigers shift from "Basic Animal Compainion" to "Absolute Fiend" was the funniest thing.


	7. Riding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As he was pretty small, Varian was fairly used to getting tossed around and carried out of things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise I'm still alive. I got a super bad case of writer's block and couldn't do anything, but we're vibin' now. I'm aware the prompt said riding but I elected to ignore that and instead do "tossed around like a sack of potatoes". This one's super short but the next one is much longer so I guess it's even.

Varian was small. Ever since he was a child, he’d been on the short side. He’d also been on the lanky side, meaning it was very common for him to be thrown around like a sack of potatoes.

When Varain was younger, it was a common sight to see Quirin walking through Old Corona with him riding on his shoulders or curled up in his arms fast asleep.

As he grew, it became less common to see Varian happily asleep and more common to see him thrown over his father's shoulder, clearly exhausted and rambling about some project he had to finish. More often than not, the end result would be the same with Varian asleep.

Quirin knew Varian was smart according to the books, but his lack of common sense worried him. He knew at some point he wouldn’t be able to throw Varian over his shoulder and carry him out of trouble. And Varian had a special talent for getting himself into trouble. 

***

Varian was in trouble. He had thought that the Flynnolium wouldn’t react the way it did. And now it was exploding. But he had to finish turning off the generators. He dodged a piece of debris skidding to the left when he heard the final pump explode.

He froze, almost watching it in slow motion when suddenly someone grabbed the back of his shirt, threw him over their shoulder, and dove into a bit of pipe for shelter. 

Once the dust settled, Varian saw Cassandra, the princesses handmaid glaring daggers at him. 

“Umm. Thanks for the help,” he stammered out. 

“No problem, kid.” Cassandra deadpanned. “Just try not to blow up any more small villages.”

***

The airship was going to have to crash. That was a fact. The question was, where?

“We’re going to have to crash the ship Rapunzel. You get off. I need to clean up my mess”

Of course Varian was scared. He was guilt-ridden, not suicidal. But someone had to do it. 

He wasn’t paying attention to his surroundings. He didn’t notice Rapunzel saying something. And it wasn’t until she had lassoed him with her hair and flung him over the edge and on the way to safety that he realized he was falling. 

***

They didn’t realize he fell. He barely realized he fell. But he was falling. 

He laughed to himself. To survive being kidnapped by your ex-friend and harassed by a creepy child just to die of basic blunt force trauma. Now that tracked with his luck.

He was about done with heights. You can only almost get thrown off of something so many times before you start to hate heights. Of course, it didn’t really matter now.

The ground was getting closer, and he closed his eyes.

“Varian!” Lance yelled. “I told you we’d find him!’

Lance hugged Varian and pretended he didn’t notice him shaking. And Varian pretended not to notice that Lance didn’t put him down until much later. 

***

This was a familiar situation. Once again Varian regretted his earlier actions. Dodging black rocks and attacks from someone you called a friend and thought you could trust wasn’t fun. 

“Careful kid!” Eugene yelled, yanking Varian out of the way. “You’ve gotta focus, and we’ve gotta retreat!”

Varain took a breath and refocused. However, it was too late. A rock burst out of the ground next to him and clipped his ankle taking him down. 

He gritted his teeth and tried to stand. He tried to bite back a pained hiss, but Eugene heard. 

“Can you run?” Eugene asked, sounding frantic.

Varian shook his head and started to speak.

“Don’t even try with that ‘leave me behind’ nonsense. We don’t leave friends behind.”  
Eugene looked at the advancing rocks before running over and sweeping Varian over his shoulder. 

“You know,” he muttered to himself, “first Rapunzel, now you. I’ll have amazing arms once this is done.”

Once they reached safety and Eugene made sure Rapunzel was okay he went to check on Varian. 

“I know how we’re gonna raise the money to rebuild,” he said while splinting his ankle.

“How?” Varian said, sounding miserable.

“We’re gonna get a jar. And everytime anyone does anything dumb and unnecesseralily self sacrificing they have to put money in the jar. Course you’d go broke pretty quickly.”

Eugene heard Varian quietly laugh and smiled to himself. But then he saw his face fall again. 

“The thing with Project Obsidian wasn’t your fault. We tested that thing until we knew it would work. It wasn’t a glitch. And I know you took that seriously and didn’t fire. Something's up. And we’ll find it out. But seriously. Stop with all the self sacrifice.”

***

Quirin was worried he wouldn’t always be able to carry Varian out of trouble. But what he didn’t plan for was the friends that could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so technically I have the next one semi-done, but if I finish it out it's gonna be super long. So I gotta decide if I wanna split it up or just post it all at once. RIP me.


	8. Team Awesome

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to be a simple trip to Vardaros. As per usual, things went south.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Local Idiot forgets these are supposed to be short and wrapped herself into a plot longer than a oneshot. To make sure I didn't ramble on forever, and to knock out some more challenges I didn't have ideas for, this plot thread will go through this one, fight, and road trip.

Eugene had always wanted a little brother. Or at least he thought he had. But after trying to keep Varian alive he’d decided he no longer wanted any siblings. 

“Is there anyway you can wiggle those tiny teenage wrists free. You’re quite lanky so…” Eugene said, trying to fill the silence.

“Nope.” Varian muttered from somewhere behind him. “On a normal occasion, maybe. But my wrist is currently swollen to the size of a grapefruit so.”

Eugene could tell the kid was scared and in pain. So was he. But he couldn’t let it show, or else Varian might panic. And right now, Eugene’s main goal was to get Varian out of this. And right now the best plan was keeping him calm. 

“Isn’t this ironic.” Varian said. “We’re currently tied to a barrel of the chemical I invented that’s named after you. Even more ironic is the guy that tried to use this and the guy who hates you because of what you did as Flynn put us here. Did I mention it’s slowly heating up and is going to explode?”

“Only a few hundred times.” 

“Well it’s slowly heating up and is going to explode.”

Eugene took a deep breath and tried to concentrate. But the only thought on his mind was, “how do we keep ending up in situations like this.”

***

Twenty Four hours earlier

“This is gonna be great!” Varian said. “I’ve been looking everywhere for this guy. He has chemicals that you can’t get anywhere in Corona. And he just so happens to be in Vardaros!” 

“It’s a good thing no one needed the balloon. It takes forever to get there by foot. Trust me.” Eugene said staring over the edge. “And as much as I like hanging out with you I’ve been on enough cross kingdom trips to last a lifetime.”

“Thanks for offering to come along. Traveling alone is super boring. Also Rapunzel nearly had a heart attack when I told her my plan. Said something about an ‘unlucky track record’.”

“No problem kid. I’d like a chance to check in with Vex and Captain Quaid. Make sure that no one’s overthrown Vardaros again.”

As they came closer to the city, Eugene scanned the skyline, and seeing a distinct lack of foreboding clouds of grime, began to calm down. Maybe this would be a nice visit. Maybe he could finish his check in quickly then spend the rest of the day showing Varian around the city. After the kid finished up with his nerd stuff of course. 

They landed near the outskirts of the city, quickly securing the balloon. “Okay.” Varian said while tying off the final knot, “It shouldn’t take me more than an hour to get what I need. I’ll meet you back here?”

“Sounds great. See you soon.”

***

Corona

Rapunzel considered Corona to be a well run kingdom. She trusted everyone who worked under her, from the maids to her advisors to do the best job possible. But she was about to fire whoever was supposed to be guarding the dungeons. 

“You mean to tell me,” she said slowly rubbing her temples, hoping this was just a stress dream, “that you let not one, but two criminals escape?”

“Yes, your highness. But they got the jump on us,” muttered the unfortunate guard, rubbing a fresh bruise on his cheek. 

“Well who are they? That way we can plan accordingly,” Rapunzel said, starting to refocus. After all, she’d handled a few escaped criminals before.

“Well you see. Your highness. The criminals who escaped were, well they were,”

“Anytime now.” Rapunzel was normally very kind, but her temper was tested when her kingdom could be in danger.

“It was the leader of the Saporians and the Baron.”

Rapunzel took a deep breath, then another, before calmly saying, “You mean Andrew, who nearly blew up Corona and swore revenge on my friend, and the Baron, who just recently tried to drown the love of my life?”

“Yes, your highness…”

“And let me guess, they’re no longer in Corona?”

“Yes.”

“So would it be fair to assume they’re headed after Varian and Eugene who are currently in Vardaros?”

“Probably.”

“Yeah that tracks,” Rapunzel muttered to herself before switching back to her queenly self. “Please prepare the second balloon so we can hurry ahead and warn them.”

“Well. You see your highness…” 

“They stole the second balloon, didn’t they.”

“Yes. Your highness.”

“Of course they did.”

***

Vardaros

Varian had never seen this many alchemists in one place! He hoped he would be able to find the booth in time to get what he needed. 

He scanned the market, eyes jumping over a young boy with fireworks, a girl with an armed escort who was eying some other chemicals, before finally spotting the booth he was searching for. 

He quickly began to weave through the crowd when he bumped into an older woman with white hair and a scar running along her chin. He quickly apologized before finally reaching the booth, just in time to see a man in green buying the last of the merchant's supply. 

“Oh come on!” he said to himself. “I come all the way here and end up getting beaten to the punch.”

“Better luck next time,” the man said, brushing a bit of the hair that had escaped his pony tail behind his ear.

Varian, ever the dramatic type, decided this man would be his rival. However, he was distracted from his musings by a giant hand clamping over his mouth and another yanking him into a side alley.

***

Eugene was happy. His meeting with Vex and Quaid had gone well. They had no suspicious activity to report in Vardaros. 

As Eugene was walking through the market, he spotted the vendor Varian was looking for just starting to set up. 

He smiled to himself and walked over to the booth.

“Need a hand?” he asked, already moving to help.

“Why yes. That would be quite nice. Thank you sir.”

Eugene started to help the man set up. Once they finished he brushed his hands off on his face and flashed his signature smile at the man.

“Hiya. I was wondering if you had this super rare compound. My friend was talking about it and I figured I’d get it for him. Apparently it acts as some sort of neutralizer for any reaction.”

“Ahh.” the merchant said. “Your friend has good taste. I happen to have some right here. It’s very limited.”

“How much?” Eugene said, starting to fish around in his pockets.

“For you my friend, no charge. I get a feeling you and your friend will be able to help a lot of people with something like this.”

“Really?” Eugene said smiling. “Thanks a lot!” 

Eugene tucked the pouch into his pocket and started to walk back to the balloon.

“Man.” he muttered to himself. “The kid’s gonna love this. And I mean, he deserves nice things. And a nap. He’s a trouble magnet.”

“You got that part right.” a familiar voice hissed in Eugene’s ear, as he felt a sharp point in the small of his back.

“Ah. I knew this trip wouldn’t be that easy.” Eugene muttered.

“Just come with me and no one will get hurt.”

***

Eugene was led down a twisted maze of paths getting further and further from the market. Eventually they turned and passed into an underground system of tunnels.

“So…” he said “how was prison?”

Andrew didn’t say anything. 

“You know if you're gonna kidnap me, the least you can do is respond to my small talk.” 

Andrew led him through a door carved into the stone.

“Stop here. Sit down and don’t put up a fight.” 

“Or I could put up a fight, kick your butt, and be back to Corona in time for dinner.”

“Oh I don’t think so.” Andrew said as someone stepped from the shadows. “After all, you don’t want your friend to get hurt.”

Eugene bit back a gasp as he saw the Baron. But his biggest concern wasn’t his old enemy. It was that he was holding a struggling Varian.

“Eugene!” he yelled. “You gotta run! I’ll be fine!”

“No way kid!” Eugene yelled back. 

He then turned to Andrew and said “Listen. You’ve got me. But he’s just a kid,” he said, gesturing to Varian. “Let him go and I’ll do whatever you want.”

Andrew laughed a cold, joyless laugh then said, “A flattering offer, but it’s the kid I have a problem with. And besides, you’re still going to do whatever we say, isn’t that right Baron?”

The Baron simply smiled and nodded.

“In fact,” Andrew said, “Why don’t we give Eugene a sample of what’s going to happen if he doesn’t listen. Baron.”

The Baron smiled then began to squeeze Varian’s wrist. 

His face twisted in pain and he tried to bite back a cry.

“Alright!” Eugene yelled angrily. “You’ve made your point! There’s no need to hurt him!”

“Too late.” The Baron said as a crack split the air. 

Varian cried out in pain and the Baron dropped him. He crumpled to the floor and gathered his wrist to his chest.

“Varian!” Eugene yelled, scrambling over to him.

“How touching.” Andrew laughed. “We’ll leave you two alone. But don’t get too comfortable. Eugene Fitzherberet may be useless to us, but we could certainly use Flynn Rider’s help.”

The Baron and Andrew stalked out, and Eugene heard the door lock behind them. Luckily they’d left a candle so it wasn’t completely dark. 

“Okay.” Eugene said, after slipping off his vest and folding it into a pillow. He slipped it under Varian’s head then started trying to assess the damage. 

“I’m gonna need you to let me see your wrist. I need to check it out.”

“I can tell you what’s up.” Varian hissed out through gritted teeth. “It feels like someone took a meat tenderizer to it.

“Well if you want it to not be tenderized forever you’re gonna let me see it.” Eugene said, gently pulling it away from Varian’s chest. “I’ve had a few broken bones before. And growing up alone you learn how to set them.”

Eugene looked down at the wrist to see it was starting to swell and turn an ugly shade of purple. “I don’t think we can convince our hosts to give us any ice. I’m gonna try and splint it.” 

Eugene scanned the room and saw some broken planks. He gathered those and ripped part of Varian’s apron apart to make bandages.

“Okay kid.” he said, walking back over to Varian. “This is gonna hurt, but if I don’t splint it it could heal wrong. I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.” Varian muttered.

Eugene quickly splint his wrist. He’d had plenty of practice and tried to make it as quick as possible. Even still, he could tell Varian was exhausted and trying to keep from crying out.

“There. Done,” he said as he tied off the last bandage. “How about you get some sleep. I’ll keep an eye on things.”

It was a testament to how tired Varian was when he didn’t argue. 

Eugene was tired too. But he couldn’t sleep. He had to keep an eye on the kid. He had to make sure they got out of this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)
> 
> I didn't sleep at all last night and instead did this. Apparently I write more when I'm exhausted. Also, bonus points if you can find the very obvious cameos from my favorite AU.


	9. Fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Varian and Eugene are in a tough spot and come to a disagreement on how to escape.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm not dead. My motivation was for a while, but we're good now. This is basically "Two idiots try and out-angst each other" or "I hate writing action so you get an argument instead."

In keeping his promise to the kid, Eugene didn’t doze off. Whether it be a small mercy or plain exhaustion, Varain was able to sleep the night through. Eugene watched the steady rise and fall of his chest, making sure his breathing was regular. Logically he knew a broken wrist couldn’t kill anyone, but he kept finding himself checking. 

If he could just keep him alive, he could get them out of this. After all, Eugene Fitzherbert had gotten out of worse, even if he was Flynn Rider at the time. 

Of course, Flynn Rider didn’t have someone else to worry about. Flynn Rider would’ve turned tail and ran the second Andrew had turned his back. He wouldn’ve cast a smirk over his shoulder and a “Sorry kid, but I’ve gotta look out for number one!”

But Flynn Rider was not Eugene Fitzherbert. And Eugene Fitzherbert knew that if it came to it and only one could get out, it would be the kid. 

Eugene was roused from his musings by a noise of discomfort from Varian. His face was cinched in pain as he suddenly shot up, using his injured wrist to brace himself. He instantly recoiled, curling his wrist to his chest. He hissed in pain before looking up at Eugene and saying “I really shouldn’t have done that. You look awful.”

“Oh. That’s rich. You look like you got hit by a wagon.” Eugene shot back with no real malice.

“I mean the man who hit me was about the size of a wagon…” Varian said, voice tight as he tried to keep the mood as light as possible. 

It didn’t work. Eugene’s voice softened as he scooted closer. “I won’t ask if you’re okay, because that’s a dumb question. So instead I’ll make you a promise. I’m going to get us both out of this. And I’m going to do it without you getting hurt again.” 

Varian could tell Eugene was serious, and that didn’t bode well with him. He wasn’t joking when he said Eugene looked awful. The stress and gravity of the situation was obviously weighing on him. He had dark circles stamped under his eyes and a visible weight on his shoulders. And when Varian looked in his eyes, he could see that he had no intention of resting until this was over. And Varian would not have Eugene run himself into the ground on his behalf.

“You need to take care of yourself too Eugene. I can take care of myself, but if you’re out of commission, we’d probably be screwed. I mean, we’d only have one working hand between the two of us.” he joked, trying to convince Eugene he was okay. However all it did was draw attention back to his hand.

“Alright kid. I’ll try, but I’m not the one being used as leverage.” Eugene said, trying to keep his voice even. “If you mess up, I’m gonna be fine, because they need me around for something. But if I mess up, you get hurt, and I refuse to let that happen.”

“It’s not like I’ve never been hurt before.” Varian said earnestly, as if to convince both Eugene and himself. “I’ve been in rough scrapes plenty of times before this.” What Varian didn’t add was that while he had been in trouble before, he was still scared. But if he let Eugene know that, his protectiveness would increase, and he’d throw himself into protecting him regardless of his own safety.

“This time though, if you get hurt that’s on me! I had the chance to protect you and I didn’t. If I hadn’t argued with Andrew he wouldn’t have done that!”

“Oh please. Andrew would break every bone in my body just because he thought it was funny. This,” he said gesturing to his splinted wrist, “this wasn’t your fault.”

“But anything else will be. It’s up to me to keep you safe.”

“But it doesn’t have to be!” Varian yelled exasperated, “You focus on getting us out, and I’ll focus on distracting Andrew and the Baron.”

“I’m not letting you offer yourself up as a personal punching bag for my convenience! Rapunzel’s gonna know we’re missing, and she’ll come after us! We just need to hold out until she arrives with the calvary!”

“What if we can’t stall that long. Or what if they tell you to do something that’s worse than letting me get a little beat up.” Varian yelled, color rising to his face.

“Stop.” Eugene said, colder than Varian had heard from him. 

“What?” he asked, the color draining as quickly as it had appeared. 

“Stop acting like your life is worth so much less than mine and anyone else's. In the past five minutes you’ve downplayed everything that happened to you. This situation sucks. Anyone would think that. So stop acting like whatever happens to you doesn’t matter. Because it does. And we are both getting out of this.”

Varian didn’t respond. Instead he slowly turned to stare at the wall. After some time passed, he spoke. 

“Of course this sucks. And of course I’m scared.” He turned back to where Eugene could see him, no longer making an effort to hold back tears or keep his voice from shaking. “I’ve been kidnapped by someone who I still see in nightmares and I’m being used as leverage to get my friend to do who knows what. We’re miles away from the only person who would know we’re missing, and we weren’t even supposed to be back for two more days. But if I focus on that, I’m gonna fall apart. And I can’t afford to fall apart right now. And we can’t afford to have you worried about me. So once again, you worry about getting us out, and I’ll worry about Andrew and the Baron.”

Eugene said nothing, simply pulling the shaking Varian into a hug. He wanted to shake him and scream that he wouldn’t let anyone hurt him until it sunk in. He wanted to tell him he was both the dumbest and the bravest person he’d ever met. He wanted to convince him there was a way for them both to escape unharmed. But he knew those words would fall on deaf ears, so instead he simply hugged him tighter. 

“Well isn’t this touching,” came a voice from the now open door.

Both heads snapped up to see Andrew leaning in the door frame. Eugene quickly pushed Varian behind him, hoping to shield him both from view and whatever Andrew had planned. 

“I’m glad you two stopped fighting. What use is leverage if you don’t care what happens to it?” Andrew continued while stalking into the cell.

“Alright.” Eugene said, trying to draw attention onto himself and off of the kid. “What do you want with me?” 

“With you, nothing. It’s the Baron who suggested we bring you on board. Apparently you’re some kind of master thief. Although you have a tendency to run off with the haul. Which is where the kid comes in. But I suppose you’ve figured that out by now.”

“I could’ve guessed.” Eugene snapped, trying to bring the focus away from Varian. “So what’s this haul?”

“You never asked what I wanted with the kid,” Andrew said, somehow behind Eugene now. 

He spun around to see Andrew with his hand around the splinted wrist of a terrified Varian. 

“I want revenge,” he said, punctuating each word by applying pressure to Varian’s wrist. “After all,” he said after prying a harsh cry from his victim before releasing him. “Traitors to Saporia pay with their lives. It’s only a matter of time before the Baron finds a job for you with too high a cost.”

He stalked out, but not before aiming a kick to the prone Varian’s side. It connected and Varian curled in on himself, hissing in a sharp breath. 

“And when you can’t deliver on your end of the deal, that’s where I come in.”

Eugene waited until Andrew had left, not wanting to do anything to set him off again, before rushing over to check on his friend.

“I’m so sorry Varian. I thought I could distract him and you wouldn’t get hurt and I just-. I’m sorry are you laughing right now?”

Varian uncurled and, with Eugene’s support, managed to sit up. And sure enough, he was quietly laughing. 

“Wow. I didn’t expect you to crack so soon.” Eugene said, trying to mask his real concern. 

Varian sighed, slightly wincing as his bruised ribs protested. “After spending a year with someone, you tend to find out things about them,” he said cheekily. “For example, I found out that Andrew has a temper, a mean right hook, no qualms about kicking someone when they’re down, and” he said while slowly uncurling his fist, “a bit of an one track mind.”

Eugene looked down to see the key to the door in the palm of Varian’s hand. He looked up to see Varian almost smirking. “He was so busy being a sadistic psycho that he didn’t notice me digging around in his pockets.”

Eugene’s face broke into a smile. “You’re a genius!” he said fondly. “But maybe next time try not to get beaten to a pulp in the process.”

***

Eugene slid his hand through the bars on the door, feeling around for the key hole. Varian stood next to him, keeping watch down the hall. 

“We don’t have much time until Andew realizes the key is missing,” Varian whispered.

“I’m aware.” Eugene responded, trying to concentrate. 

“And if he finds us trying to escape he’s probably gonna kill us. Or at least me.”

“I’m aware.”

“Of course even if we can get the door open we’ll still have to sneak out of wherever we are.”

“Varian I swear if you don’t stop I’m leaving you behind.” Eugene said jokingly

“If it weren’t for me we wouldn’t have a key.” Varian shot back. 

Eugene laughed, then quietly cheered as he slipped the key into the lock. He waited to make sure no one was coming before slowly turning the key. He heard the locking mechanism click open before slowly opening the door. 

“Okay kid,” he whispered to Varian. “Make sure you stick close to me. I vaguely remember the way out of here.” 

He wanted to add, “and if you get the chance to escape, take it and don’t worry about me,” but he knew that would only lead them back to their earlier argument. So he resolved that if he saw a chance for Varian to escape, he would make sure the kid made it out. 

The two of them crept down the corridor, barely making a sound. They worked their way around the labyrinth of stone, Eugene trying to remember the way out. 

He screwed his eyes tight, wracking his brain trying to remember if Andrew jerked him to the left or to the right while guiding him to his cell. 

“Eugene,” Varian hissed, “I think I hear footsteps. We need to decide, and we need to do it now.”

Sure enough, Eugene could hear heavy footfalls he assumed to be the Baron. Making a split second decision, he grabbed Varian’s arm and pulled him down the hall to the left. They raced down the hall as quickly and quietly as possible. Eugene turned a corner to see a stone wall in his face. He bit back a yell of frustration and turned to Varian. 

“I messed up. I’m sorry. Maybe we can sneak back the other way.” he whispered. But the kid wasn’t staring at him. He was staring straight over his shoulder. Eugene didn’t have to turn to see they’d been caught. The look on Varian’s face said enough. 

“Or maybe, I finally get to have a little fun.”

Eugene spun around just in time for a haymaker to connect with his temple. His head collided with the cold stone wall and he crumpled to the ground. 

As his vision blurred, he saw Andrew stalking toward Varian, who was shaking like a leaf but meeting Andrew’s eye.

Eugene hoped the kid wouldn’t do anything stupid. He wanted to warn him, to apologize, to do something, but he was so tired. 

His eyes slowly shut as he slipped into a warm oblivion, with Andrew’s voice ringing in his ears. 

“I guess you two are more trouble than you’re worth.” 

***  
Eugene woke up with his arms pulled back and a small length of rope running from his wrists. He attempted to pull his arm forward, but was met with resistance and a small pained gasp. Through a haze, he realized three things in quick succession.

One. He was in some kind of underground chamber with a barrel at his back. This wasn’t a surprise, as he had spent most of the past day in an underground chamber.

Two. He had to assume Varian was in a similar predicament. He reached down the length of rope and sure enough found a smaller hand. After making sure it was the non-injured one, he gave it a reassuring squeeze before pulling his hand back relieving the tension on his shoulder. 

Three. He had absolutely no idea what was happening.

“The barrel’s full of Flynnoliam. There’s currently a small flame under it heating it. And above it is Vardaros’ treasury. The Baron was originally gonna have you break in. But Andrew convinced him this would be more… fun.” Varian said from the other side of the barrel. 

“That’s… not ideal.” Eugene said, trying to keep his tone even. He tried to twist his wrist out of the ropes, to no avail.

“Is there any way you can wiggle your tiny teenage wrists free?”

***

“Judging from the fumes coming off the Flynnolium, we have about ten minutes before it explodes,” Varian said, voice tight but level. “If that bleach blond little-”

“Focus Varian.”

“Sorry. If I could’ve gotten my hands on the neutralizing agent that merchant was selling I could neutralize the Flynnolium and keep us from exploding. It wouldn’t cut the ropes but it could buy us some time.”

Eugene’s face broke into a smile. “I have some of the neutralizer! I grabbed some in the market! If I could get it out of my pocket, maybe we could get it into the barrel.” 

His face fell and the grin disappeared as quickly as it came. “That poses a problem… the neutralizer is-”

“It’s in your left pocket.Which means that to get it, you’re gonna have to yank my right arm forward by the wrist. My broken wrist.” Varian deadpanned. 

“Yep.”

“It’s not gonna be easy and is gonna hurt a lot.”

“Most likely.”

Varian sighed, twisted his head so he could bite down on his vest, and said, “Bring it on.”

Eugene pulled his arm forward, hard. Even though he was muffled, Eugene could still hear Varian’s pained gasps. Finally, he slipped his hand into his pocket and felt his hand close over the vial. He moved as quickly as possible, hissing quiet apologies to Varian. He relaxed his arm and called, “You okay?”

“Peachy.” Varian said, trying to balance his voice. “We really don’t have time for concerned questions with Eugene though.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you use snark as a defense mechanism?” Eugene asked. “We need to get this in the barrel. I could try and pass it to my right hand.”

“No time. I’ll give you as much height as I can. But you need to get that neutralizer in fast.”

“Can you move your hand enough to get the lid off?” Eugene more said than asked, slipping the top of the bottle into Varian’s hand.

“Yeah. Gimme a second.” Varian, after a lot of pain and pained curses twisted the lid off. The smell washed over the both of them, nearly causing Eugene to drop the bottle. 

“That’s some strong stuff. I’m gonna move fast, okay?” he asked. 

“Okay. When are-”

Eugene jerked his arm up, ignoring the kids pained yelp, and launched the open bottle into the Flynnolium. The barrel rumbled, seeming about to boil over, before it settled down.

Over on the other side, Varian’s relieved laugh split the tense silence.

“I can’t believe that worked!” he said, voice somewhere between panic and relief. 

Eugene didn’t want to admit it, but he barely believed it either. He started to think of ways to escape when he heard footsteps outside the door. He grabbed Varian’s uninjured hand in a useless attempt to try and protect him. The door slammed open, and Eugene let go of the breath he had been holding.

“It’s okay kid.” he said, not letting go of his hand. “Hey sunshine. How’d you get here?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So even though the challenge is over, I'm still gonna try and finish it. No clue when that'll be though. Also, thank you so much to everyone who leaves a comment, kudo, or a hit. I really appreciate hearing from y'all, and it motivates me to get stuff done.


	10. Roadtrip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They all have a conversation that was long overdue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm aware it has been about two months. But hey, here ya go.

Rapunzel was nothing if not effective. From the moment she heard that Andrew and the Baron had escaped, she had begun making preparations to head to Vardaros and either cut them off or warn the boys. 

The only problem was, Eugene and Varian had taken the newest functional balloon, and Andrew and the Baron had stolen the second, leaving Rapunzel with… the prototype.

The prototype was the “affectionate” name given to the newest balloon engine Varian was working on. It hadn’t blown up yet, but if they ever tried to run it for longer than thirty minutes, it would begin smoking. They never tried to push it further than that. She regretted never fixing it now.

“Yes Stan. I’m sure I want to take the prototype. I have magic hair that can protect me. I should be fine,” Rapunzel said, shoving bandages into her knapsack. “And before you start with ‘Well at least let someone come with you’, tell my father that I’m going anyway.”

Stan nodded and left, letting Rapunzel continue planning. She was never going to let either of them out of her sight once she got them back. She ran her hands down her face, gritting her teeth in stress. Eugene and Varian were both extremely capable people, but whenever they worked together, things never ended well. 

She threw the final first aid kit into the balloon and cast a final look over her shoulder, making sure her father wasn’t on his way to stop her, before throwing the lever to open the hangar door. 

She threw the prototype into its fastest gear and held on tight, crossing her fingers that it wouldn’t blow up.

***

She made it to Vardaros in half a day, but she still felt like she was too slow. And to make it worse, just as she landed, the prototype burst into flame. She wasn’t hurt, but there was no way they were making it back to Corona in that thing. 

She knew Eugene wanted to check in with Captain Quaid on this trip, so she ran toward the garrison to check in with him. 

***

She got nothing from Quaid. According to him, Eugene had come in, had a short meeting, then left. He did agree to send out a search party though, so the trip wasn’t completely futile.

Quaid had suggested that she stay behind since, “they didn’t know who was out there, and it could be dangerous.”

But that’s why Rapunzel couldn’t just stay behind. She knew who was out there, and she knew her boys were in danger.

So she went searching.

***

“You would think that it wouldn’t be hard to find those two. One used to be one of the most wanted thieves in the seven kingdoms, and the other nearly toppled the monarchy. Twice! You’d think it’d be harder for them to just disappear!” Rapunzel yelled to no one in particular. 

She was stopped in her rant by a tap on her shoulder. 

“Are you one of the people with the search party?”

She turned around to see a younger man in green. Before she had a chance to answer, he continued. “I’m only telling you this so I’m not implicated in his disappearance. But the one with the blue hair, I was the last to see him. He was leaving the market, when he disappeared down an alleyway. I didn’t think much of it, but it might be important.”

Rapunzel had to stop herself from either hugging him or strangling him. Instead, she calmly said, “Can you take me there? Please.” 

The man, sighing like it was a horrible inconvenience, nodded and said, “Follow me.”

***

Rapunzel and the man darted through the crowd, dodging other vendors and angry patrons. Normally, she would apologize for bumping into them, but Rapunzel really wasn’t in the mood for niceties. 

Eventually, the man slowed to a stop and pointed to an alley. “That’s the one your friend disappeared down. Good luck.”

“Wait.” Rapunzel said, “Thank you… “

“Hugo. But think nothing of it.”

“Thank you Hugo.”

***

Rapunzel scanned the walls of the alley. She quickly picked up two things. One, the signs of a weak struggle. Two, the symbol of the old ruler carved into the stone.

Rapunzel had read all about the tunnels under Vardaros. They were built under the orders of the rulers. They said it was for safety, but it was common knowledge that they were used to escape people coming to collect their debts. Ruling the city of fun and games racks up a large bill.

She pressed her hand to the crest, and watched as part of the wall slid away to reveal a sprawling passage. Her suspicions were confirmed as she peaked down the passage. The dust on the ground had been disturbed recently. She could see drag marks leading down it.

She knew that members of Quaid’s garrison were close by, so she shouted for them to back her up before plunging into the dark.

The members of the Vardaros crownsguard started searching the tunnels for the Baron and Andrew, but Rapunzel was only focused on finding her boys. She followed the drag marks as far as she could, only stopping when they brought her to an empty room.

She started to take a breath in an attempt to calm her nerves, when she was hit with a familiar smell.  
Flynnolium. And where there was Flynnolium, there was Varian. She tore down the hall in the direction of the smell.

After navigating through the turns, she came to a closed door. The fumes from the Flynnolium were almost overwhelming. She started to reach for the handle, pushing past the fear of what she might find behind the door. 

She took a steeling breath and slammed the door open.

Eugene was alive. Just knowing that alleviated some of the tension in her shoulders. 

“It’s okay kid.”

She knew Eugene was still talking, but she was so occupied by her relief she didn’t hear.

They were both still alive. She’d worry about okay later.

“Sunshine. You hearing me?”

Rapunzel’s face broke into a smile, and tears she didn’t realize she was holding back gathered in the corners of her eyes.

“I’m hearing you.” she said, before her senses came back to her. “That’s not gonna blow up? Is it?”

“We took care of it,” Varian said from the other side of the barrel. She couldn’t see him, but he sounded exhausted.

“I’m gonna come untie you two, then we can go home,” Rapunzel said, trying to sound comforting.

She ran over, pressing a quick kiss to Eugene’s forehead, before turning her attention to the ropes. She pulled a small knife out of her bag. Both of their wrists were rubbed raw from rope burn. She was so focused on that, she almost missed how swollen Varian’s right wrist was.

She bit back a question. There was time for that later. 

She made quick work of the ropes, slicing them down the middle. 

“Let’s get you two out of here. Can you both walk?”

Eugene nodded while Varian hissed, “Well enough.” Without giving him time to argue, Eugene swept Varian into his arms. Rapunzel noticed how he didn’t fight it like he normally would. He just sank into his arms.

They walked in silence until they exited the tunnel system. Rapunzel looked across to see Varian asleep. Eugene didn’t seem to notice.

“I’m okay Rapunzel,” he said in response to the question she didn’t even have to ask. “Just tired, hungry, and the proud owner of a few gray hairs.”

“Do you wanna tell me what happened now or later?” Rapunzel asked.

“Later. Let me get a good night's sleep and some medical attention for the kid first.”

She nodded, and put her hand on his arm.

***  
It didn’t take long to patch Eugene up. After getting bandages up his arms and a quick test to ensure Andrew didn’t give him a concussion, he was released. 

Rapunzel found him exactly where she assumed. 

“The doctor said he’s going to be fine. Bruised and exhausted, yes, but just fine. He actually complimented your splint for his wrist,” Rapunzel said, pulling a chair next to Eugene’s and grabbing his hand.

“He looks so small..”

Rapunzel had to agree. Between the bandages on his arms, the splint on his wrist, and the wraps concealing the bruises littering his torso and holding his battered ribs in place, Varian was more bandage than person. 

She tightened her grip on Eugene’s hand.

***  
Varian was still asleep. The doctor said this was normal and expected. 

They never found the stolen balloon, and the one Eugene and Varian brought had been slashed. Andrew and the Baron were nothing if not thorough.

Quaid had given them a caravan similar to the one Rapunzel had taken almost two years ago. 

“It won’t be fast, but it’ll be more comfortable than a normal carriage. We’ll be in communication with Corona about Andrew and the Baron,” he said before sending them off.

***  
Eugene and Rapunzel stopped to make camp the first night. Varian had slept the whole day. 

“You know,” Eugene said over dinner, “I’m halfway convinced this is his body making up for weeks of sleepless nights. I’m convinced he doesn’t sleep.” 

“So…” Rapunzel said. “Do you wanna talk about it now? You know it’s not good to keep all this bottled up.”

“I know.” Eugene said, as the mood instantly changed. “I just. I feel like it’s all my fault.”

Rapunzel grabbed his hand, waiting for him to continue. 

“Their original plan was to have me steal for them. And they were gonna use Varian to get to me. I mean, I guess they did…”

“What happened?” Rapunzel asked, clearly concerned.

“When they first captured us, I was mouthing off. And instead of me dealing with the consequences, Andrew had the Baron crush his wrist.” Eugene said in a small voice. “I just had to sit there and watch them do it. But that wasn’t even the worst part. The worst part was listening to how unbothered the kid was by this all. He would discount what was happening at every turn. And I have to think, how often does he do this? How often is something bothering him and he just, ignores it?”

Rapunzel’s face fell. “You know.” she said somberly, “Back when we had to take down the Saporian’s war balloon, he pulled something similar. He tried to convince me, the one with indestructible hair, to abandon ship and leave him. Simply because he thought that was the only way to make up for what he did.”

Neither said anything, but instead of going to bed, Rapunzel settled into a chair next to Varian’s bed.

She let her eyes run over the bruises covering his face, and pulled the blanket a bit tighter around him.

***

Varian awoke with a start. He shot up in bed, this time remembering not to brace himself with his right hand.

The first thing he noticed was they were moving. He ran his eyes over the caravan in a panic, before he saw Rapunzel. She was propped up in a chair next to his bed, fast asleep. He sunk back into the pillows, relieved. She found them. 

The second thing he noticed was that Eugene was missing. He sat up, bolt upright and tumbled out of bed. Rapunzel jumped, eyes flying open.

“Oh! You’re awake! You slept for two days. The doctors say you’re gonna be fine… Are you okay?” she said, placing her hand on his shoulder. 

He grabbed her wrist with a strength brought on by panic. “Where- where’s Eugene? I thought he left with us. He- he’s okay, right?!?”

Rapunzel pulled Varian into a loose hug. “He’s okay. He’s on the front. I can get him if you want?”

She felt him nod, but when she tried to get up, he tightened the hug and whispered something. 

“What was that?” she asked, wanting clarification even though she suspected the answer.

“Can you stay? Please?” 

“Of course. I’m gonna yell for Eugene.”

He quickly ran into the room they were in. Before he could say anything, a relieved sob broke through Varian’s lips. He wiggled free from Rapunzel and crashed into Eugene, rambling unintelligibly.

“Hey kid. I’m okay.” Eugene said, pulling him closer, blinking back tears. Rapunzel joined them, and the trio slowly sank to the ground.

They sat quietly for a moment before Rapunzel said, “Now I know this sounds like a stupid question, but are you okay Varian?”

“What?” he asked, sounding surprised. “Yeah. I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.”

Rapunzel sighed, her suspicions now confirmed. “Varian.” she said firmly but kindly. “You don’t have to deal with this alone. We’ll always be here to help you. I promise.”

If they weren’t in such close proximity, she wouldn’t have noticed. But as she said that, Varian flinched. Nearly imperceptible, but she noticed.

But why would he flinch. She was promising to help. And she always kept her- oh.

“You! You promised you’d help me! Rapunzel you promised!!”

Of course he was wary about accepting help, accepting promises from her. Because while she did eventually make good on her promise to help, it was only after leaving him alone with only his petrified father for months, then having him thrown in jail with Andrew for a year.

Logically, she knew the Andrew bit wasn’t her fault, but she felt guilty nonetheless. 

She backed up and quickly said, “Varian I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean-”

Panic quickly flitted across his face before he schooled his expression into one of confusion. Once again, Rapunzel wouldn’t have noticed it if she wasn’t looking for it.

“What are you talking about? You have no reason to apologize.”

“We both know that’s not true!” Rapunzel said, tears filling her eyes. “I left you alone! You were fourteen! And you sit there pretending that it doesn’t bother you, but then you try and handle everything on your own and-”

She was cut off by Varian crashing into her. He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t need to. 

Eugene pulled them both closer, and they sat. 

“I think,” Varian said, breaking the silence, “that I’m ready to talk if you are. We can do it together.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I firmly believe that everyone should talk about their problems and communicate, cause I said so.


End file.
